PHOTO: Melissa Martin
David Watson, on Creek Bend Road near St. Anne’s, wishes the city would have made more effort to consult residents about a proposed road extension.
David Watson, on Creek Bend Road near St. Anne’s, wishes the city would have made more effort to consult residents about a proposed road extension.
Road extension leaves some residents cold
The Lance
By Melissa Martin
November 12, 2009
Residents of a quiet south Winnipeg neighbourhood say they are upset that they weren’t properly consulted about a proposed access road into their community.
The developers of a planned 232-unit condominium complex to be located at 1341 St. Anne’s Road want Creek Bend Road to be extended south to allow access to a proposed mini-storage facility. Oxbow on the Seine is slated to open next year where the two roads meet.
Members of the Riel community committee recommended the road extension be approved at a Nov. 5 public hearing. The proposal must now go before the city’s standing policy committee on planning and development.
Dave Watson, who has lived in a small house that butts up against the Seine River since 1996, said he is willing to accept new development in the area.
However, Watson said he’s concern that the access road from Creek Bend could have a negative impact on the secluded bedroom community.
There are currently 12 houses located in the neighbourhood, one of a handful of enclaves within the city limits that don’t have sewer and water hook-ups.
Watson is concerned that traffic on the uncontrolled intersection of Creek Bend and St. Anne’s could increase substantially if the city allows the access road to be built.
John Wintrup, principal planner for the city, said that his office took transportation concerns into account when developing the plan.
“We certainly do look at those types of volumes,” Wintrup said.
“Self-storage is a low generator of transportation. It’s small, private lockers... not warehouse-type storage. And we did put restrictions on it to make sure... we would not want a high traffic-generating structure at that location.”
Some Creek Bend residents have suggested that the mini-storage facility should connect to the nearby Perimeter Highway or St. Anne’s.
“It’s a commercial property accessing onto a major road, that just makes sense,” Watson said.
However, the provincial government controls access to the Perimeter and there are few entrances that connect to it. Meanwhile, the province has requested that 3.6 acres of land next to the proposed facility be set aside for possible future improvements to the St. Anne’s-Perimeter interchange.
“We’re planning for the long-term future,” Wintrup said.
Watson said that while he understands the city’s reasons for recommending that the access road be built, he is disappointed he and other residents in the area weren’t properly informed about the project.
They only became aware of the project after noticing a large poster that was erected on St. Anne’s. No signage was posted on Creek Bend.
“When you’re driving along at 70 kilometres, are you supposed to be able to read it?” he said.
“How much would it have cost them to put 20 letters in the mail, knowing that we were the only ones that will be affected? And what about the owners of the future condo units, who speaks for them?”
Wintrup said the poster was located on St. Anne’s in an effort to make it visible to as many people as possible.
“We wanted it up in a high-visibility, high-traffic area,” Wintrup says, noting that the city also took out advertisements for the proposal in both daily newspapers.
“If we had put it on Creek Bend, it would have been way out of sight. We certainly try to notify people.”
Some Creek Bend residents have questioned how their concerns were received by the community committee.
Watson, who spoke before a small audience of mostly developers, was “received with thanks, and they said it was well thought-out,” but little more input was given, says one neighbour who attended the meeting.
“I was disappointed that nobody addressed the fine presentation David had made,” said Donna Hnatiuk, who together with husband Eric has lived in her sprawling Creek Bend house since 1992. “It just seemed to roll right over it.”
The developers of a planned 232-unit condominium complex to be located at 1341 St. Anne’s Road want Creek Bend Road to be extended south to allow access to a proposed mini-storage facility. Oxbow on the Seine is slated to open next year where the two roads meet.
Members of the Riel community committee recommended the road extension be approved at a Nov. 5 public hearing. The proposal must now go before the city’s standing policy committee on planning and development.
Dave Watson, who has lived in a small house that butts up against the Seine River since 1996, said he is willing to accept new development in the area.
However, Watson said he’s concern that the access road from Creek Bend could have a negative impact on the secluded bedroom community.
There are currently 12 houses located in the neighbourhood, one of a handful of enclaves within the city limits that don’t have sewer and water hook-ups.
Watson is concerned that traffic on the uncontrolled intersection of Creek Bend and St. Anne’s could increase substantially if the city allows the access road to be built.
John Wintrup, principal planner for the city, said that his office took transportation concerns into account when developing the plan.
“We certainly do look at those types of volumes,” Wintrup said.
“Self-storage is a low generator of transportation. It’s small, private lockers... not warehouse-type storage. And we did put restrictions on it to make sure... we would not want a high traffic-generating structure at that location.”
Some Creek Bend residents have suggested that the mini-storage facility should connect to the nearby Perimeter Highway or St. Anne’s.
“It’s a commercial property accessing onto a major road, that just makes sense,” Watson said.
However, the provincial government controls access to the Perimeter and there are few entrances that connect to it. Meanwhile, the province has requested that 3.6 acres of land next to the proposed facility be set aside for possible future improvements to the St. Anne’s-Perimeter interchange.
“We’re planning for the long-term future,” Wintrup said.
Watson said that while he understands the city’s reasons for recommending that the access road be built, he is disappointed he and other residents in the area weren’t properly informed about the project.
They only became aware of the project after noticing a large poster that was erected on St. Anne’s. No signage was posted on Creek Bend.
“When you’re driving along at 70 kilometres, are you supposed to be able to read it?” he said.
“How much would it have cost them to put 20 letters in the mail, knowing that we were the only ones that will be affected? And what about the owners of the future condo units, who speaks for them?”
Wintrup said the poster was located on St. Anne’s in an effort to make it visible to as many people as possible.
“We wanted it up in a high-visibility, high-traffic area,” Wintrup says, noting that the city also took out advertisements for the proposal in both daily newspapers.
“If we had put it on Creek Bend, it would have been way out of sight. We certainly try to notify people.”
Some Creek Bend residents have questioned how their concerns were received by the community committee.
Watson, who spoke before a small audience of mostly developers, was “received with thanks, and they said it was well thought-out,” but little more input was given, says one neighbour who attended the meeting.
“I was disappointed that nobody addressed the fine presentation David had made,” said Donna Hnatiuk, who together with husband Eric has lived in her sprawling Creek Bend house since 1992. “It just seemed to roll right over it.”
1 comments:
Sorry, had to put my mug on my blog. Me bad.
The matter might be "inside baseball" for most, but not if you might have to wait five minutes to get onto St. Anne's Rd. in 2015 just to get to work.
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